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EDUCATIONAL 
PAMPHLET No. 7 



THE 

MOTHER'S REPLY 

A Pamphlet for Mothers 

By 
NELLIE M. SMITH, A.M. 



Recommended for Publication by the Committee on 
Education and endorsed by the Executive Committee 



The Society of 
Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis 

PRINCE A. MORROW, M. D. FOUNDER 

Tilden Building, 105 West 40th Street 

NEW YORK CITY 

Telephone 5195 Bryant 



OBJECT 



The object of this Society is to limit the spread of diseases 
which have their origin in the Social Evil. It proposes to study 
every method, sanitary, educational, moral and legislative, 
whereby this object may be promoted. 

MEMBERSHIP 

Membership entails the following personal advantages. 

I. Receipt on election of a set of seven Educational Pam- 
phlets, and three Reprints, 

II. Annual Subscription to the Magazine. 

III. Receipt, on publication, of all further literature. 

IV. Notification of the meetings of the Society. "{ 
ACTIVE . $2.00 

(This fee covers only the actual cost of literature furnished) 
CONTRIBUTING. . . $5.00 

(This fee also helps meet general office expenses) 

SUSTAINING $10.00 

(This fee further provides for the extension of lecture and 
other educational work.) 

Dues are payable in advance from date of election. 

Members are elected at the regular meetings of the Society, 
held on the second Thursday in February, April, October and 
December. 



The Mother's Reply 



A Pamphlet for Mothers 



By 

Nellie M. Smith, A. M. 

Author of "The Three Gifts of Life 
A Book for Cirls 



EDUCATIONAL 
PAMPHLET No. 7 



The Society of 
Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis 

Tilden Building 
105 West 40th Street New York City 



^ 



Copyright 1914, 

By Nellie M. Smith 

(All Rights Reserved) 



Printed by 
Frederick H. Hitchcock 
MAY -I IQId 105 West 40th Street 

New York 



./« 



CI.A369918 



A FOREWORD TO MOTHERS. 

So much has been said of the necessity of parents 
instructing their own children in those matters which 
have to do with the origin of life, that many would 
gladly do so, only they do not know how. The most 
natural, and for many reasons the best way, is by 
what is called the biological approach. Beginning with 
the flowers, the child is taught the processes of repro- 
duction through the simplest forms of animal life to 
the higher forms, and thence to the human being. 
Some very good books have been written illustrating 
this method, but many parents have had no instruc- 
tion in biology themselves, and feel quite unequal to 
the task, even with the aid of books. Besides this, 
many schools are now teaching reproduction in the 
lower forms of life, so that it is not so necessary for 
the parent to take up the biological side as it might 
otherwise be. 

This pamphlet is written to show mothers who 
have no knowledge of biology how to tell about the 
coming of the baby. The first chapter is for use with 
the very little child, either boy or girl. As soon as a 
child is old enough to wonder and to question, he is 
old enough to be told this simple story. The other 
three chapters are written for the purpose of show- 
ing how to continue the story to the little girl as she 
grows older and asks more questions. Each one deals 

3 



with a different and progressive phase of the subject. 
The whole story should never be told at one time un- 
less the child draws it out by questions. The pamphlet 
is intended as a guide for the mother and is not to be 
placed directly in the hands of the child. The best re- 
sults will be obtained if the mother does not let it be 
known that she has been reading about the subject, 
but rather, after getting what help she may need, 
speaks as from her own personal knowledge. This 
will make the talk much more informal and intimate. 

The story is told in greater detail — particularly on 
pages 10 and n — than would be necessary or even de- 
sirable to give to most children. Children differ so 
much from each other that they cannot all be treated 
alike, and the mother must use her own discretion as 
to how much to tell. However, her attitude should 
always be one of willingness to answer any question 
that may be in the child's mind. 

There are three things which I wish could be im- 
pressed upon every parent. The first is the great 
desirability of keeping his child innocent. To do this 
he must not keep him ignorant. Ignorance may in- 
clude both good and evil, while innocence refers only 
to evil. The very best way to abolish morbid or 
prurient curiosity is to satisfy normal curiosity. Tell 
a child all that he wants to know about the normal 
side ; then he will not be tempted to discuss the pruri- 
ent side with other children. In talking to children, 
always give the normal and ideal side; let the first 
impression, which will be the strongest and will tend 
to be the underlying one, be of the highest. 

Secondly, the best time to acquaint a child with the 

4 



facts of life is before the age of puberty. There is 
a psychological reason for this. Before puberty, a 
child sees things from the objective standpoint ; facts 
are interesting in themselves, rather than in their re- 
lation to him. But after puberty, and particularly dur- 
ing the period of adolescence, knowledge becomes 
subjective; it is seen in relation to himself. This is 
especially noticeable in matters relating to sex. To 
the child, they are interesting for their own sake, but 
to the girl or boy in the teens, these facts — particu- 
larly if learned for the first time, or if talked over 
among themselves — are all thought of in a personal 
way. 

Finally, I wish every parent could realize the im- 
portance and the value of keeping the confidence of his 
children. It is pathetic to hear children say, as they 
have said to me many times, "Of course I couldn't 
talk to my mother about that." A refusal to tell the 
story of life, or a deception by the parent upon this 
subject, is the rock upon which many a confidence has 
been wrecked. If the parent is able to get the child 
to discuss the subject, even after he has heard about 
it from other children, it may be the means of re-estab- 
lishing that confidence which every parent should make 
it his aim to win and to hold. 



THE MOTHER'S REPLY. 
I. 

Come sit on mother's lap and she will tell you what 
you want to know — where the baby comes from. But 
first let me ask you a question. Where does the bird 
come from? Why, of course, you know that! The 
bird comes out of an egg which the mother bird lays 
in a nest way up in a tree. 

The father bird and the mother bird bring pieces 
of grass and bits of horse hair which fell out of a 
horse's tail, and they build a nest just on purpose for 
the mother bird to lay her eggs in. They don't want 
anyone to steal their eggs or hurt their little babies, 
so they put the nest way high up in a tree where it 
will be hard to reach. 

God taught the little birds how to build their nest. 
He taught the mother bird to sit on the eggs and 
keep them warm till the baby birds come out, and He 
taught the father bird to bring her things to eat and 
fight anyone that wanted to hurt her or steal the eggs. 

After the little birds come out of the shell, God 
taught both the mother bird and the father bird to 
hunt for things with which to feed their little babies, 
and to protect them from harm until they are old 
enough to fly away and take care of themselves. 

The little baby starts life just the same as the little 
bird — in an egg ; only it is such a tiny, tiny bit of an 
egg, and such a very precious egg, that it must have 
a much better, safer nest than the kind that the birds 

6 



build for their little ones. It is God who made the 
nest for the little baby ; a wonderful nest, so soft and 
warm, and in the very safest place you could possibly 
imagine, right close under mother's own heart. 

This little egg in mother's nest grows and grows, 
and pretty soon it turns into a wee little baby. Oh, a 
tiny, tiny little bit of a baby; so small that it must 
stay a long time in the nest where it is warm and safe. 

All the time that the baby is in its nest, mother is 
thinking about it, and sewing little baby clothes for 
it. Father knows that the little baby is growing in 
mother's nest, too. He works hard to earn money so 
that he can take good care of mother, and buy all the 
things that the little baby will need. Father is extra 
kind to mother now ; he waits on her, and does not 
let her do any hard work. He does not want her to 
get tired, for then she could not take such good care 
of the baby that is growing in the nest close under 
her heart. 

When the baby is big enough to leave the nest, it 
just knocks on the door and comes out. Mother and 
father are so glad to see it. They have been waiting 
for it such a long time that it makes them very happy 
to be able to look at it and hold it in their arms, and 
they love it now more than ever. 

This is such a beautiful story, let's make it a secret 
between just you and mother. If any other little boy 
or girl asks you if you know where the baby comes 
from, you say, "Yes, my mother told me, but it's a 
secret we have together, so I can't tell, but if you want 
to know, you ask your mother, then you can have a. 
secret, too." 

7 



II. 

When you were a little girl, you came to me one 
day and asked me where the baby comes from. Since 
then we have had a secret, just we two together, about 
the dear little baby in its soft, warm nest cuddling up 
close to mother's heart. 

Now that you are getting to be a big girl and can 
understand things better, I am going to tell you some 
more of the wonderful story of the way the little baby 
begins its life. 

Of course, you know that it is God who creates 
every living thing ; but He allows His living creatures 
to help Him in His work. Even the animals must do 
their part to help in bringing up little animals just 
like themselves. 

When the chicken begins life it is a tiny, tiny bit 
of an egg tucked away in a warm, safe little nest 
inside the mother hen. This egg grows and grows 
until by-and-by it is surrounded by a shell. Then the 
mother hen lays it in a nest, which is made of straw, 
out in the chicken-house. 

If you break open a chicken's egg, you will find two 
things ; a yellow ball in the center, and a sticky white 
substance surrounding it, but nothing that looks like 
a chicken. Still, tucked away inside the yellow ball, is 
a tiny speck which has the power to turn into a 
chicken. The rest of the egg is the food for the 
chicken to grow on. 

That is God's part in the creation of the chicken, 
the rest the mother hen must do ; she sits on the eggs 

8 



and keeps them warm until the little downy chicks 
hatch out, then she scratches around in the ground 
hunting for things for them to eat, and at night she 
spreads her wings over the little chicks to keep them 
warm. If any one tries to steal or hurt her little ones, 
she fights for them. All this she does until they are 
quite old enough to take care of themselves. 

So, too, it is with the coming to life of the little 
baby. God prepared a wonderful nest for it; so safe 
and warm and soft beneath the mother's heart. Here 
the baby begins its life in a very tiny little bit of an 
egg ; so small you couldn't even imagine it any smaller. 
In order to live and grow, it must have something to 
feed on, just the same as you and I. We eat different 
kinds of food, which go to make red blood. The blood 
is pumped by the heart to every part of the body, so 
that no matter where you prick yourself a little drop 
of blood will come out. 

If the little tiny egg could have blood like that, it 
could grow too, and that is just what it gets. The 
little egg cuddles up close to one side of the nest, just 
the way you have seen baby cuddle close to mother. 
The lining of the nest rises up all around the little 
egg so as to shield it, just as mother puts her arms 
around the baby to protect it from harm. Then, just 
as mother feeds baby with milk from her breast, so 
this wonderful nest supplies the little egg with blood 
to feed it and make it grow ; blood that is made from 
the food that mother eats, and pumped from mother's 
heart right to the nest. From mother's blood the little 
tiny egg gets everything it needs to make it grow into 
a perfect baby. 

9 



It would be so easy now to imagine a good fairy 
waving her wand and making everything happen in 
just the very best way. For soon after the tiny egg 
cuddles up in the nest, it begins to grow. It grows, 
and it grows, and it grows. After a while, the egg 
turns into a tiny little baby. The baby needs still more 
care than the egg does, so a soft warm blanket grows 
all around it, tucking it in as safe and close and warm 
as mother tucks baby in the cradle. 

As soon as the egg begins to grow, the nest begins 
to grow too. All the while that the baby is growing, 
the nest is growing too, growing just as fast as is 
needed, so as to give the baby plenty of room. 

After a while, when the baby gets bigger, it moves 
its arms and legs a little once in a while, just as if it 
wanted to remind mother that it was there, growing 
inside the nest, and make her think about it and wish 
she could see it. 

The bigger the baby grows, the nearer it comes to 
mother's heart. After it has been in the nest for 
nine months, it has snuggled up very close. Now it 
is time for it to come out. It lies all cuddled up in 
the nest with its legs tucked up, its little arms folded 
across its breast, and its head next to the door of the 
nest. The door is down at the bottom of the nest, and 
it opens into a sort of hallway, which leads from the 
nest to the outside, in the lower end of mother's body. 
This hallway is very small before the baby is ready 
to use it, and you couldn't imagine how the baby could 
ever get through ; but there is a very wonderful thing 
about it, for it is lined with soft skin like the lining 
of your mouth, only instead of being smooth as your 

10 



mouth is, it is all crinkled. When it is time for the 
baby to come, the crinkles spread out smooth, and the 
hallway is then quite wide enough for the baby to go 
through. Then some muscles in the mother's body 
press down hard against the baby, just as you can 
press hard against something with the muscles in your 
hand ; and these muscles push the baby down through 
the door of the nest, through the hallway, right out to 
the outside world. 

The very first thing the baby does when it arrives 
is to cry. Oh, how happy mother is to hear that cry, 
for then she knows that her baby is really here ! After 
the baby has come, the mother must stay in bed for 
two or three weeks. You see, the nest has grown very 
large in order to hold a baby all wrapped up in a soft, 
warm blanket, and it has moved up near mother's 
heart, so the baby could snuggle up close. Now that 
it is empty, the nest must go back where it was before. 
Mother must lie quiet while this is taking place. You 
might really think a fairy was still there waving her 
wand, for after the baby leaves the nest, the nest be- 
gins to shrink, and gets smaller, and smaller, and 
smaller, until after a while it is only a tiny little nest 
again just as it was before the baby started to grow 
in it. 

The little new baby is very helpless ; it can't do 
anything for itself at all, and would soon die unless 
there were someone to take care of it. I have seen 
little downy chickens run around and pick up food 
only a short time after they came out of the shell, but 
the baby must have everything done for it for a long 
time. Do you know, I think that is one reason why 

11 



mothers love their little babies so much, because they 
are so helpless and need so much care. 

When the baby is little, it can't eat as older children 
do, so there is milk prepared for it in the breasts of 
the mother; milk that is warm and just right in every 
way. Can you guess how much a new-born baby's 
stomach will hold? About an eighth of a glass, that 
is all; so there is only a little milk in the beginning; 
but as the baby grows bigger and needs more milk 
more milk comes, until the baby is old enough to eat 
a little food. Then the milk gets less and less, and 
by-and-by it stops altogether. 

Just think how large a part the mother has in the 
creation of the new little life ! Her body must supply 
the blood; therefore she must eat good nourishing 
food so as to make good blood. She must be very 
careful always to breathe fresh air, because, as you 
know, the blood is made pure in the lungs, and she 
must keep her blood very fresh and pure for her little 
one. Then, too, mother must be careful not to get 
over tired, for this would affect the nest and harm the 
little baby. Finally, and very important, too, she must 
keep her thoughts happy and sweet and pure, and not 
lose her patience or get angry. You know, if you get 
angry, or frightened, or feel unhappy, it affects your 
whole body, and even makes you sick sometimes. If 
anything like that happens to the mother, it may harm 
the little baby. 

Whenever you see a woman who is going to have 
a little baby come to her, think of how much she must 
do so that the little baby can grow big and strong and 
iine. Try to help her and save her steps ; wait on her 

12 



whenever you can, but most important of all, don't 
worry her or make her cross. Do everything you can 
to make her feel happy and sweet-tempered. For 
when you do this, you are not only helping the mother, 
but you are being kind to the little helpless baby, too. 

III. 

In the body of every little girl is a nest just like the 
one in mother's body ; only it is much smaller. While 
the child is young, this nest stays very small; but 
when the little girl gets to be thirteen or fourteen, the 
nest begins to grow. At this time, the little girl's 
breasts commence to increase in size and grow full 
and plump. All this means that she is changing now 
from a child into a little woman. 

This little nest that is in every girl's body is called 
the womb. It is placed way down low- in the center of 
her body in front. The womb looks something like 
a small pear set with its large end up, only it is not 
perfectly round but flattened from front to back, as 
if you had pressed it together between your two hands. 
Suppose we take a pear and cut it in half, the long 
way, then from the inside of each half cut off a slice, 
so as to flatten it a little. Now dig out the core and 
pull out the stem. Put the two halves of the pear 
back together again, and you will have a little idea 
what the womb is like. The little hollow formed by 
taking out the core would be the inside of the nest, 
which is very small. The opening caused by pulling 
out the stem would be the door of the nest. 

Besides the nest called the womb, where the baby 

13 



grows, there are two other nests, much smaller, but 
very important. You remember I told you that the 
baby begins its life in a tiny little bit of an egg f so 
small that you couldn't even imagine it any smaller? 
The two other nests contain these little eggs, just as 
the bird's nest holds the bird's eggs. Only these eggs 
are very, very small, so the nests are small, too; just 
about as large as an almond nut, and much the same 
shape. The two little nests are called ovaries. You 
see, in a very old language called Latin, which maybe 
you will study some day, eggs are called ova, so it was 
natural to call a nest that holds the *>va, the ovary. 

The ovaries are connected with the womb by two 
very small tubes ; so small that you could hardly more 
than pull a horse hair through them. Now you can 
imagine how very, very tiny the eggs are. 

Let's get two almond nuts and stick a tooth-pick 
into the pointed end of each, and put the other end of 
the tooth-picks between the two halves of the pear 
opposite each other at the broad end. Now you can 
imagine just a little how the three nests look. When 
a child is small, these three nests are very small in- 
deed, but even then the tiny, tiny little eggs are there, 
all snuggled up close together inside the ovaries. They 
were there even when the little baby was born. They 
stay there all quietly asleep until the girl changes into 
a little woman. Then, once in every four weeks, a tiny 
tiny little egg leaves its soft, warm nest in the ovary 
and goes on a journey down through the fine tube to 
the larger nest, ft is so very small you couldn't even 
see it. When a girl is little, and when she grows big, 
too, before she is married, this little egg keeps wan- 

14 



de-riiig along until it reaches the door and then it just 
gets lost and the little girl doesn't know anything 
about it, because it is so tiny she couldn't see it anyway. 

But after a girl has grown up and married, then 
sometimes there is something that makes the little egg 
stay cuddled up close to one side of the larger nest 
and begin to grow and grow, until after a while it 
grows into a real live baby. 

Of course, while a girl is little, and before she is 
married, it is not time for the nests to be used, but 
they must do certain things over and over regularly, 
so that when the' proper time does come, everything 
will be ready for the little baby. You know that when- 
ever you want to learn to do anything well, you prac- 
tice it over and over again. If you want to play 
a piece on the piano for company, you begin a long 
time ahead. You practice regularly every day until 
after a while your fingers play almost without your 
thinking about it, and when you play for the company 
you do it without making any mistakes. Now very 
much the same thing happens with the three little 
nests. Long before it is time for them to be needed, 
they begin to do certain things over and over, so that 
when it is time for the baby to come, everything will 
be ready to work just as it should. Regularly every 
four weeks the tiny little tgg leaves its soft, warm 
nest and starts on its journey to the larger nest. Just 
as regularly, the larger nest gets all ready to receive it ; 
just as if it were really going to stay. 

You know, when you prick your finger how a little 
drop of blood comes out? The blood comes from tiny 
little blood-vessels that run very close together under 

15 



the skin. You can see some of the larger blood- 
vessels, but these very tiny ones that send out blood 
wherever you prick yourself, you can't see at all, no 
matter how closely you look. Now, the inside of the 
larger nest is lined with a very soft, fine skin like the 
lining of your mouth. Close under this skin are a 
great many fine blood-vessels, just the same as in your 
finger. When it comes near the time for the wee little 
egg to leave its nest in the ovary and begin its journey 
to the larger nest, these little tiny blood-vessels get 
fuller and fuller of blood, just as though that fairy 
were there, telling them that the egg was coming. By 
the time the wee little egg arrives, they are just as 
full as they can hold. 

Now, if the little girl were grown up and married, 
and the egg stayed in the larger nest, the blood would 
be there, all ready to feed the little tiny thing and to 
supply it with all that it needed to grow into a real, 
live baby. But long before a girl is old enough to get 
married, whenever the time comes for the egg to leave 
its nest, the blood-vessels get very, very full, and when 
the little egg wanders off and gets lost, the blood isn't 
needed any more, so it just squeezes through the soft, 
fine skin, and runs down the hallway to the outside. 

If a little girl did not know about this, she would 
be very much frightened to see stains of blood on her 
clothes, but now that you do know, you won't be 
afraid at all; you will just think "I'm growing into 
a woman now, that is why this has happened." 

You know that if you cut your finger and the blood 
comes, you run to the basin and let the cold water 
run on it to stop the bleeding ; but you don't want to 
stop the blood coming from the nest. You want to let 

16 



all the blood that is there come out. This takes three 
or four or five days, sometimes longer for one person 
than for another. You see, this blood has been col- 
lecting in the nest for some time, so it must all come 
away, then when the next egg arrives there will be a 
fresh, new supply of blood all ready for it. That is 
why you must never put cold water at the opening 
of the nest, or do anything else to try to stop the blood, 
because if you did, the nests would not do their work 
properly, and this would cause a lot of trouble. Just as 
soon as you see any blood on your clothes, come and 
tell mother quietly and she will show you how to fasten 
on a cloth that will keep your clothes from getting 
soiled. 

It is very important that the nests do this work 
when a girl is young, so that by the time she grows 
up and gets married they will be ready to do the great 
work for which they were created. There are a few 
things that every girl should know and remember, 
so as to help the little nests to do their work in the 
right way. 

First, since the blood is not needed, it is best that 
it should come away, so you must be very careful 
not to do anything that might stop it. Never go in 
bathing, or paddling, or take a cold bath at that time. 
Also be very careful not to get your feet wet, or sit 
in a draught, as either of these might have the same 
effect. 

Next, you must not run and jump and play hard at 
this time, the way you do at other times. Exercise is 
good, because it sends the blood rushing through every 
part of your body. But you do not want the blood ta 

17 



be sent rushing to the nest now. While it is in this 
condition, it must not be disturbed, but be kept still 
so that it can do its work properly. So sit quietly and 
read or sew, and if mother thinks it best for you to 
stay at home from school for a day or two, just re- 
member that this is your little part in helping the three 
nests to get ready for their great work in the future. 

One more way in which you can help the nests to 
do their work right is by keeping the outside parts 
very clean ; especially while the big nest is giving off 
the blood it no longer needs. Take a wash-cloth 
wrung out in warm water, put soap on it and wash 
this part of your body every night and morning. 

Finally, never get impatient or cross if your period, 
as this time is called, comes when you very much want 
to go for a walk or dance or play some lively games, 
or go in bathing or paddling. When you feel that 
way, just think what a great thing the nests are pre- 
paring for, then you won't mind giving up your pleas- 
ure in order to help them in their work. 

The creation of life is a very wonderful thing; 
something that no one fully understands ; something 
that all things which live are allowed to share with 
God. You know that everything that has to do with 
God is sacred, so this is sacred, too. That is why 
every little girl should take such especial care of the 
three little nests. That is why, too, we always keep 
the opening of the nest covered, and never touch it 
except to make it clean. Some people think that it is 
because we are ashamed of it, but they don't under- 
stand. It is nothing to be ashamed of, only something 
to be kept sacred and holy. That, too, is why we do 

18 



not talk about the coming of the little baby or of the 
period when the nest is sending off the blood it does 
not need. These things are sacred and only to be 
talked about with mother. Those little girls who talk 
about such things with one another do so because they 
have never been told the wonderful story as you have 
heard it. I am sure, now that mother has told you 
all these things, you will not talk about them to anyone 
else, but if there is anything you do not understand 
you will come to mother and she will explain it to you. 

IV. 

In the little talks that we have had together, we have 
thought a great deal about the part that God has given 
to the mother, both in the creation and care of the 
little baby. 

He has given a share in this creation to the father, 
too ; not quite so big a share as the mother has, but 
still a very important one. This is so with all the 
animals, and with the human father, too. 

I told you how the father bird and the mother bird 
bring bits of stick and grass and pieces of horse hair, 
and together build the nest for the young birds. After 
the mother bird lays her eggs in the nest, the father 
bird helps her to take care of them ; either he brings 
her food while she sits on the eggs, or else he takes his 
turn snuggling down in the nest to keep the eggs 
warm while the mother bird hunts for her own din- 
ner. Then, after the young birtis come out of their 
shells, both the father and the A other birds hunt for 
food for their hungry family. 

19 



But that is not all that the father bird does, for to 
him has been given an important part in the very be- 
ginning of the life of the little birds. 

Inside of the mother bird is a nest called the 
ovary — just the same name as the two smaller nests 
in the girl and woman. Tucked away inside the ovary 
are tiny yellow eggs, each one containing a little speck 
of life. The father bird, too, has a little nest inside 
of his body containing very tiny specks of life. The 
little bird cannot begin to live at all unless these two 
specks of life, the father speck and the mother speck 
join together. Neither little speck is any use at all 
without the other, they are only half-lives ; but when 
the father half-life and the mother half-life join to- 
gether, at that moment the baby bird really truly begins 
to live. God has taught the father bird that he must 
bring his half-life to meet the mother half-life; so, 
before they have begun to build the nest in the tree, 
and while the little eggs are still very tiny, the father 
bird comes up close to the mother bird and presses 
the half-lives from the nest inside his body to the 
entrance of the nest in the mother bird's body. These 
little father half-lives are very, very tiny; so small 
that you couldn't possibly see them unless you could 
look at them through a microscope, but they are very 
much alive. Once inside of the mother bird's body, 
they hurry along until they reach the place where the 
mother half-lives are asleep inside the tiny eggs, then 
one little father half-life and one little mother half-life 
join together. These two make the whole life from 
which the baby bird will develop. 

Somehow the joining together of the two half-lives 

20 



always makes me think of the story of Prince Charm- 
ing and the sleeping princess. You remember how 
the beautiful princess lay asleep inside the enchanted 
castle, and could never wake up until Prince Charm- 
ing found her and kissed her into life. We might call 
the nest inside of the mother bird's body the en- 
chanted castle, and the mother half-life inside the tiny 
bit of an egg the sleeping princess. She will never, 
never wake up, because she is only half a life, until 
the other half-life — the father half-life — comes like 
Prince Charming to awaken her, then together they 
will live in the new little life. 

Isn't that a very beautiful thought, that God did not 
give all the wonderful work of creation to the mother, 
but gave the father just the same share as the mother 
in starting the new little life ? The same thing that is 
true of the birds is true of all the animals ; dogs, and 
cats, and horses, and cows, and of human beings, too. 

Every little girl and woman has two tiny nests where 
the little mother half-lives are tucked away, and every 
boy and man has two nests where the father half-lives 
live, waiting until it is time for them to do their im- 
portant work. This time does not come until the boy 
has grown up to be a man and has married some girl 
whom he loves very much ; then, in order that the little 
baby may begin its life, the father places the half-lives 
from his nest where they can reach the mother half- 
lives, in the hallway leading to mother's nest. When 
the father half-life and the mother half-life meet, in- 
side of mother's nest, then they begin together the life 
of the little baby. 

This is father's part in the creation of the new little 

21 



baby; after that, mother must protect and feed the 
child growing in her nest, until it comes into the 
world. Then she must still feed it with the milk that 
God has sent to her in her breasts, and she must watch 
over it and take care of it for a long, long time. All 
that father can do now is to watch over and take care 
of mother ; giving her what she needs and making her 
life as happy and free from trouble as he can, so the 
little baby will have the best possible chance to grow. 

Now you can understand why it is that children 
sometimes look like father and sometimes like mother ; 
and why some things about them remind you of father 
and others of mother, because in the very beginning, 
just half of the baby life came from father and the 
other half from mother. 

The very, very beginning of the little baby's life, 
when father gives into mother's care his precious half- 
lives, is the part that God allows father and mother 
together to share with Him in the creation of life. 
Therefore, it is something which is very holy and 
sacred and should never, never be talked about, ex- 
cepting quietly and privately by those who are very 
near and dear to each other, such as father and mother 
together, or you and mother together. It should never, 
never be spoken of to other girls, or before other 
people. Those who really understand the sacredness 
and wonder of it all couldn't talk about it as if it were 
just any ordinary subject. 

Now that you are old enough to understand, mother 
is glad to explain these things to you. Everything 
that has been created by God is pure and beautiful 
and good, and therefore right for us to know about ; 

22 



but we must understand it in the way God in- 
tended, so that we can see the beautiful side. 

I think these talks have made you understand just 
a little of what father and mother have had to give 
in order to bring their little children into the world 
and care for them while they are growing up. Now 
you will love them more than ever. You will run to 
wait on father when he comes home tired at night. 
You will be more thoughtful of mother, and if ever 
she expects a new little baby, you will try to save her 
steps. You will be extra gentle and patient with her 
at this time, and be careful not to do anything that 
might make her cross or cause her worry. 

There are three things that mother would like to 
have you remember always. The first is that every 
little girl should think of her body as something sacred, 
because God has entrusted to her the care of the little 
mother half-lives. Even while she is little, they are 
snuggled up asleep inside the two tiny nests and they 
are kept alive by her blood. If she is strong and 
healthy and true, very likely the little half-lives will 
take after her, but if she is sickly, or if she does not 
take good care of her body, no one knows what harm 
she may do to them, too. 

Next, never allow anyone to do anything to you 
which you would be ashamed to have mother see. 
Boys and girls can play and have all sorts of good 
times together, but no girl who thinks of her body as 
sacred will allow a boy to maul her, or kiss her, even 
in fun or in a game; she will want to keep herself 
pure and fresh and sweet for the one boy who is going 
to come some day to be her mate for life. 

23 



Finally, if you want to keep your body sacred and 
pure, you must keep your thoughts always pure. You 
can never do a kind act without first having a kind 
thought, and you can never do a mean act unless first 
you have had a mean thought. Our thoughts are the 
very most important things in our whole lives, be- 
cause it is, after all, our thoughts which form our 
characters. 

Keep these things always before your mind; never 
do anything that you would not want mother to see; 
never say anything that you would not want mother 
to know ; never listen to anything that you would not 
want mother to hear ; try always to keep your thoughts 
kind and sweet; and whenever you have done some- 
thing that you know was wrong, come and tell mother. 
I heard once of a little girl who every night when 
she went to bed told her mother about all the naughty 
things she had done that day that she was sorry for, 
and her mother told her of all the good things she 
had seen in her little girl during the day that had made 
her happy. Mother is your best friend to whom you 
can tell everything. She is always ready to help her 
little girl, even when she has been naughty, to do 
better next time. Remember this, then you will grow 
into the pure, noble woman that mother and father 
want you to be. 



24 



Officers of 

The Society of 
Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis 

Prince A. Morrow, M. D., Founder 
OFFICERS 

PRESIDENT 

Edward L. Keyes, Jr., M. D. 
109 East 34th Street 

VICE-PRESIDENTS 

Stephen Smith, M. D. Francis L. Stetson, Esq. 

Prof. Edwin R. A. Seligman 

SECRETARY 

Henry P. de Forest, M. D. 
150 West 47th Street 

TREASURER 

Andrew J. Gilmour, M. D. 
133 East 57th Street 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
Marshall C. Allaben, Chairman 
Prof. Maurice A. Bigelow Rosalie S. Morton, M.D. 

Raymond P. Kaighn James Pedersen, M. D. 

The President, The Treasurer and The Secretary r ex officio 



COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION 
Col. Robert L. Harrison, Chairman 
Thomas M. Balliet, Ph. D. Rev. Charles K. Gilbert 

Mrs. James P. Cahen Max J. Exner, M. D. 

Margaret A. Cleaves, M. D. Mrs. John P. Peters 

Orrin G. Cocks Dr. Eugene L. Swan 

Miss F. I. Davenport 



The President and Secretary ex officio 



Tilden Building, 105 West 40th Street 
New York City 



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